The present disclosure relates to an inverter for an electric vehicle.
In recent years, technologies in regard to electrical vehicles traveling by using electricity that is green energy are being rapidly developed. Electric vehicles represent vehicles driven by using electricity. Electric vehicles may be largely classified into battery powered electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. Here, the battery powered electric vehicles represent vehicles driven by using only electricity and thus are generally called electric vehicles. Also, the hybrid electric vehicles represent vehicles driven by using electricity and fossil fuels.
Most of electric vehicles include a motor generating a rotation force, a battery supplying power into the motor, an inverter controlling an RPM of the motor, a battery charger charging the battery with electricity, and a low voltage DC/DC converter for electric vehicles.
Among these, the inverter includes a sensor for sensing current to precisely control the motor.
FIG. 1 is a view of an inverter for an electric vehicle according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the electric vehicle according to the related art includes a hole-type current sensor 10. The current sensor 10 is fitted into a busbar 40 and then mounted on a CT terminal block 60.
According to the inverter for the electric vehicle, current generated from a power semiconductor module 30 is transmitted to the outside through the busbar 40. Here, the current sensor 10 surrounding the busbar 40 measures the current flowing in the busbar 40 to transfer the measured current to a printed circuit board (PCB) 20 through a wire harness 50.
Here, the CT terminal block 60, which is a separate fixing unit, is installed to fix the busbar 40. The current sensor 10 is fitted into a plate-shaped portion of the busbar 40, and then the current sensor 10 and the busbar 40 are assembled with the CT terminal block 60.
Thus, a separate wire harness 50 is needed to transmit the current from the current sensor 10 to the PCB 20.
In this structure in which the busbar 40 is disposed at a side of the power semiconductor module 30, the CT terminal block 60 is needed to fix the busbar 40. Thus, the inverter increases in volume and manufacturing cost.
Also, since the busbar 40 have a small section-area to pass through the current sensor 10, a material of the busbar 40 is limited to copper (Cu). Thus, it is difficult to reduce manufacturing costs of the inverter.